Ann Magnuson

From radical performances in New York clubland to decades on the silver screen, this star performer has tons of tales to tell.

Ann Magnuson is a singer, musician, DJ and actor who moved to New York in the late ’70s and became a performer at two key venues in the city’s revolutionary post-disco scene: Mudd Club and Club 57. She created characters for the stage, using humor, sex and pop-culture pastiche in a style that landed her a role in the Madonna-led 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, and saw her cross over from the club scene to the silver screen. A star in dozens of film and television shows since the ’80s, including Tequila Sunrise, Panic Room, Frasier and Modern Family, Magnuson’s tales of Hollywood stardom and radical performance make her a unique underground figure.